Come and Play
by Satu-Ryuu
Summary: They had a rubber man, a marimo, a thief, a liar, a love cook, and soon they would gain a reindeer, an archaeologist, a cyborg, and a skeleton. So a doll joining the crew shouldn't be so weird, right? *the remake of A Doll's Life*
1. Chapter 1

So welcome back. I'll include the little extras and everything just like in the other story. For this story I mainly aim to make things more detailed and just all around polish this whole thing up into a grade a story.

Chapter One

_Tragedy befell my wife and child. The world stole them from me. Such a cruel beast she is, but I will have a family. I will have a daughter whom I may pamper and lavish, worship like the treasure she is. I will have a child that this world will never take from me._ **~ Taken from page one of Ryuuden the doll maker's journal.**

The low burning fire broke through the filthy windows of the workshop, banishing only a small amount of the fast approaching darkness. The sun had just began to set, darkness barely overtaking the world. This slight darkness caused a decrepit look to swell around the old workshop whose architecture dated back nearly a hundred years.

A lone figure moved around inside the workshop.

"Father, I know you've only been gone a day, but I miss you terribly." The lone figures voice was sweet and innocent, filled with a chiming loneliness. "I can't wait for you to return. Because then. . . . . Because then. . . . . . Because then . . . . . . Because then you'll be able to make me alive and we'll be a real family. Just like you wanted, Father." THe figures voice faded with a breathless whisper of air through cloth, all their motions ceased.

The low flickering candle light danced on skin so sleek and shiny that it only barely resembled human flesh, this figures skin was made of a creamy colored satin. The light dance on thick long waves of silken hair colored blacker than the darkest of nights. And it reflected off of perfect pastel green eyes made of the most carefully molded glass. This being frozen in place as she was, was easily mistaken for a life sized doll.

She is a doll. A beautiful doll, who was just moments ago, talking. Just moments ago, was whispering in a soft lonely chime to the darkness that had begun to engulf her home.

Time moved on while the doll remained in position. Darkness finally fell and still no movement from the beautiful doll. Maybe it was a mistake? Maybe this doll had not been moving. It could have been a trick of the light. Perhaps maybe an old lonely spirit trapped and longing for life that moved the doll and spoke? Night progressed though, oblivious to the doll frozen in place. After long hours passed, and long shadows spread, a single glowing light echoed from the outside, in through the window.

Slowly, the door to the workshop creaked open and in hobbled a man far from his prime. Gnarled hands carefully grasped a cane and a lantern, as he made his way towards the doll. His body was hunched from age making him shorter than the doll. He gazed at the doll with a defeated sadness. How long has it been since he started his nightly visits? Even he couldn't remember. Poor thing, he thought, shaking his head slowly.

With a lot of struggle and several fumbles including dropping her once which caused the frail old workshop to shudder and groan, the old man managed to maneuver the doll through the house and into a bed. He sighed as his shaky nearly deformed with age hands began probing lines of thick black stitches maring the perfect satin skin. His fingers found a place where the stitches had pulled loose and the satin flesh hung open slightly, revealing white marble bones coated in a pinkish gel like liquid. He mended them with the skill and speed only gained by decades of practice. Once that task was completed, his gnarled hands carefully grasped a bow that was knotted tightly an inch below the hollow of her throat. The bow, the same as her skin was a soft satin of the highest grade, the bow unlike her skin, was black. With several tugs the bow came undone, leaving the old hands free to carefully unlace the satin ribbon. As the ribbon was unlaced a single opening that extended from just below where the bow had sat, when fastened, down between the dolls breasts to stop just above her naval where another bow sat. The man only unlaced the ribbons to just below the doll's breasts. Once that was done, he carefully pulled open the satin skin revealing what appeared to be a rib cage made of pure white marble. Though this rib cage more closely resembled a locked box, simply shaped like bones.

Where the sternum should have been a type of latch took it's place. Hands carefully clicked the latch open, before pulling the left side of the marble ribs up just enough for a gnarled hand to slip inside.

His hand sifted through a cool gel like substance before clasping onto what he was searching for. With a care one would only show to the most fragile and expensive of objects, the old man pulled the object from the dolls chest. Strings of thick black twine pulled out with the object in the man's hand. The twine was melded with the sides of the object, like vines clinging to a building and vanished back into the doll's chest.

"Look's like your heart stopped again." The man's voice, gruff with age, echoed in the cold workshop. In his hand was something that was in almost the same shape as a human heart. It was made of metal that had rusted with centuries of existence. Swirls of tribal markings and runes from an unknown language covered the metal heart. Those old hands gently opened the metal heart to reveal three slots carved into the metal. Two of those slots contained gems made of a stone with no name, a stone that was virtually unknown to the world. These two stones colors shifted on their own at an uneven rate. Both stones shone with their own faint light. In the third slot was what appeared to be a glistening powder.

"That diamond didn't last you very long did it?" The man tipped the heart, allowing the diamond dust to dance down into the palm of his shaking hand. "I managed to get a bigger one this time, so hopefully you'll get a few more days out of it." He allowed the dust to flutter down to the ground before pulling out a diamond barely half the size of the two other stones. The diamond was slid into place. The heart was snapped shut. Slowly, a gentle hum filled the air as the markings on the rusted heart filled with a glistening white light. "There we go." The heart was replaced. The marble ribs were latched shut. The satin flesh was laced closed and the silk ribbon was tied into a tight secure bow.

The doll's glass eyes gained the shimmer of life before blinking. A smile spread perfectly painted pink lips showing beautiful white marble teeth.

"Hello, Gama." The doll sat herself up. She readjusted her top to cover her upper body again. The doll moved and spoke in the same way a young woman would. " If you've come to see Father, you just missed him. He left yesterday morning and he won't be back for some time. He's gone to find the last of the life stones for me. So we can be a family! Isn't that great?" The doll stood from bed and began happily prancing around as she started doing odd chores.

"That's too bad, Marcy." The old man Gama's face was shadowed, his voice tight. "I wanted to speak with him before he left, but hopefully he'll be back soon." He forced a laugh. How many decades had he said this to her day after day? He was barely twenty when it started from what he could remember.

He was nearly ninety now.

Slowly the old man departed from the old workshop heading to his home. He didn't know what would be crueler. If he left her frozen as a doll, no longer alive to relive the same day over and over or if he continued to let her live like this? He'd decided that both were cruel. He'd decided that he would keep her alive till he himself died. Hopefully, he would die soon. He would die and in a sense, she would too. She would fade from existence and her secrets along with her father's deeds would be forgotten.

The next day, a single pirate ship cast it's anchor to the side of the island near the cliff where the old workshop stood.

"C'mon you guys! I'm hungry!" A boy in a red vest shouted from his seat on top of the ship's figure head.

"You wouldn't be hungry if you didn't eat all of our supplies!" an orange haired woman shouted as she slammed her fist into the back of the boy's head.

"It's not my fault I eat a lot!" The boy whined while the other three members of the crew gathered at the front of the ship.

"Oh yeah?" The orange haired woman's eyebrow twitched. "Then whose fault is it?"

"Sanji's." The boy said as if it was obvious.

"How the hell is it my fault!?" A blonde man shouted at the boy.

"You should have stocked more meat." Before the blonde man could retaliate, a man with a long nose cut in.

"Are you sure this island is inhabited?"

"Isn't it obvious?" A man with green hair said as he pointed to the workshop on the top of the cliff. "There's a house right there."

"That's not a house. It's a workshop." The orange haired woman said as she prepared to climb off the ship. "This island was famous for it's toy makers."

"Toy makers?" Long nose questioned as the rest of the crew left the ship.

"Yeah, a man named Ryuuden used to make dolls here, he stopped decades ago and now his dolls sell for several hundred thousand berris each." The group slowly worked their way up the trail, lead by the boy in the vest who was chanting 'meat, meat, meat, meat' to himself.

"If his dolls were so famous why'd he stop?" Long nose questioned again. The orange haired woman sighed aggravated.

"How should I know?"

"Well with the way you were talking, I assumed you knew the whole story."

"The only thing I know about him is the fact that his dolls sell for a lot! I don't care about the rest!"

"I don't care about dolls! I want meat!" The boy in the vest shouted throwing both arms into the air.

"I'm gunna agree with Luffy. We're here for supplies, not dolls." The green haired man said a hand cautiously placed on his swords. He could feel something just dancing on the edges of his senses. His eyes zeroed in on the workshop on the edge of the cliff. The workshop was old, he could see that, but he could feel something. Something sad and lonely. "Let's hurry up and get our supplies so we can leave."

"What's this?" The blonde smirked. "Are you scared, Marimo?"

"I'm not scared, Shit cook." His eyes searched for the person he'd seen, but couldn't find it. He turned to the blonde. "I've just got a bad feeling about this place."

"You mean the person watching us?" The blonde lit a cigarette and took a long drag from it.

"Yeah."

"W-w-what!?" Long nose began to shiver and look around rapidly. "Someone's watching us!?"

"Don't worry." The green haired man gave a vicious grin. "If they attack we'll be ready for them."

"Uh, guys?" The woman asked as she stopped in her tracks.

"Don't fear, Nami!" The blonde placed a hand over his heart while he stretched the other out to his side. "I'll defend you! No one shall lay a hand your beautiful body."

"Thanks, but that's not the problem."

"Hmmm? Then what is?"

"Luffy's gone." The phrase 'damn it' went through everyone's minds as they took off at a running pace up the path.

The boy in the vest who wandered from his friends in search of his precious meat, stood in front of the old workshop. His face was serious as he marched towards the door. He was a man on a mission. His hand grasped the handle to the door and he threw it open.

"Anyone home!?" No answer was given as he stepped inside the workshop. Rows of shelves filled with dolls and doll parts filled the front room. His eye's were drawn to a door that was partially open. "Hey! Anyone home!? I'm hungry!" The boy took a few more steps inside before pausing. "Guess no one's home. Man, and I'm still really hungry. I don't know if I'll make it to the village."

"Hello?" A melodic voice asked from behind the boy. He turned around with a confused look on his face as he stared at the woman behind him. He noted the shiny cloth like appearance of her skin and the ribbon that was laced through flesh. His black eyes met her pale almost milky green eyes. They looked like glass and seemed almost empty. "Do you need something?" He blinked twice before grinning brightly at the woman. She gave him a good feeling, like a childish peacefulness humming through the air. She gave him a small smile that didn't reach her glass eyes.

"Yeah. Can you tell me where the nearest restaurant is?" Her smile grew.

"How about I just show you? You look like the type to get lost."

"That'd be great! Thank you!" She began to walk off and he followed happily humming that peaceful tune he'd felt just moments ago.

"I'm Marcy, Ryuuden's daughter. Who are you?"

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy and I'm a pirate!"

"A pirate?"

"Yup!" Her glass eyes flashed with something Luffy couldn't quiet figure out, but it looked a bit like curiosity.

"My father left yesterday morning, did you happen to see his ship on your way here?" There was a barely burning excitement in her eyes. "His ship's green like my eyes."

"Hmmmmm." Luffy thought for a long moment. "Nope! Haven't seen a single ship!" Disappointment flashed through those glass eyes. She didn't say another word as she led him down the path to the village. Luffy watched her from the corner of his eye. Something was off about her, but he couldn't figure out what exactly. She gave him a good feeling, so she could not possibly be a bad person, but there was something wrong. And it wasn't something small either, Luffy could feel it. Something was very wrong with the kind lady taking him to get meat, but he just couldn't figure out what. It had something to do with her eyes though. She looked at him, smiled slightly and began telling Luffy about her village.


	2. Chapter 2

And here's chapter 2! So I'll probably be turning out the chapters that are just getting rewritten pretty fast because I'm mostly just correcting mistakes and adding details that will answer some of the questions and confused comments that I got in reviews on the previous version. So yeah. I'll keep all of the extras, maybe even add a few. These first few probably won't have too many large changes though, mostly because they are the ones that don't have many details I can edit. They'll mostly just get some greatly needed polishing.

_Chapter 2!_

_Hundreds of millions maybe even billions of berris I've spent on parts to create my perfect child, but money will no longer get me the pieces I need. The pieces I need. . . will cost so much more than I can imagine. They will cost me my brother. They may have already cost me my closest friend._ **~ Page 80 of Ryuuden the doll maker's journal**

Luffy's grin never faded as he followed after Marcy. Many people mistook him for being stupid, naive, absent minded. Not like he wasn't all of those, but he did understand danger. He knew when a situation was taking a turn for the worse. He was a pirate after all and a pirate needs to be aware of those things. He could see the looks the people of the town were throwing at him. He could feel the angered glares burning into his back once he and Marcy passed the people. He heard several people whisper about getting the guns, about not allowing a pirate to meddle. He wasn't the smartest person out there, but he was a pirate and pirates could tell when people were getting ready to fight.

Marcy led the strange pirate without a word. She had long since run out of things to tell him about the village. The village was not impressive even on the nights of festivals. She was now more concerned about an odd sensation coursing through her. A strange agony eating at the edges of her mind. This agony had started when she first witnessed this pirate and his crew coming to the island. The pain slowly became more noticeable as she entered the town. It grew in intensity as she saw familiar faces that belonged to people she didn't know. It was the same pain she got when she gazed at Gama. She knew the man was him, how could she not know who that boy was. She'd seen him every day since he was born, but hadn't he just turned eighteen? Why did he look so old and frail then? Is that how humans age? Her father hadn't aged like that in the few years she'd gotten to spend with him. Marcy banished the thoughts from her mind and blockaded the pain. She'd think about it more later, but for now she was at the restaurant and there was a hungry pirate chanting for meat behind her.

"This is the best one on the island." She turned to speak to the boy, only to stare at a blank space. Blinking slowly in confusion, she heard the door to the restaurant slam shut. Marcy blinked unnecessarily again. She was a doll, she only blinked out of habit not need. Slowly her satin skinned hands opened the door allowing her pastel green eyes to roam the inside of the building. The majority of the people inside stared at her with wide confused eyes. A few looked at her before turning away to whisper to their neighbors. Marcy rarely entered the village, even more rarely came to the restaurant and was never seen without Old Man Gamma trailing after her. The only ones who didn't do either were staring in annoyance at Luffy. The boy was already shoveling insane amounts of food into his mouth. Marcy twitched. Humans didn't normally eat that much in such a short time, did they? She didn't know if it was safe for her to go near the boy now.

"Somehow I knew we'd run into him if we waited here." The orange haired woman said. A sweat drop running down her face.

"No kidding." The green haired man stated over the top of his cup.

"So Luffy, what uh exactly were you doing while you were gone?" the long nosed man asked. Said boy looked up from the food he'd taken from his friends.

"I met the lady who lives in that workshop near where we docked and she led me here." He paused for a long moment thinking. "That's it actually."

"Really? Then where is she now?" Orange asked.

"Hmmmm. I don't know. She was right beside me a few minutes ago."

"You bastard! How dare you run off on a lady kind enough to help your lousy ass!" The blonde man shouted from across the table.

"What are you so upset about? You haven't even seen her." The green haired man said before taking a long drink from his cup. "For all you know, she could be hideous."

"There is no such thing as a hideous woman! There are just descending levels of beauty for each age group!" The blonde shouted as the swordsman snorted.

Marcy twitched again as she gazed at the group. She no longer had any interest in these bizarre humans, they were loud and they were making the burning sensation course through her mind again. Slowly she attempted to exit the building, but a shout froze her in place.

"Hey! There she is!" Her attention focused fully on the group that was now staring at her. "Come meet my friends, Marcy!" She shook her head 'no', but nearly fainted when Luffy's hand suddenly grasped the front of her thin cotton v-neck tank top. The hand was connected to an elongated arm. Humans couldn't do that, could they? No. They couldn't. Father would have told her if that was normal. This boy must be a freak of some kind. That's it! Luffy couldn't be human! He had to be some kind of freak or monster! Marcy didn't want to eat lunch with a freak! His friends had to be freaks too! Why else would they be with him? She didn't want to eat with a whole group of freaks!

Soon the world rushed around her, blurring for a moment before she impacted with the edge of the table. It buried itself deep into her stomach. Her body folded over the edge slightly just before the force bounced her back off and she flopped helplessly to the cold wood floor. The world remained in focus, perfectly still. Not an ounce of pain coursed through her body from her stomach. No, pain was pulsing from the stitches along her spine that had torn open. A cool gel like fluid oozed from the newly split satin skin. Marcy grumbled, slightly annoyed, the stitches on her back were impossible for her to fix herself, she'd need to hunt down Gamma.

Slowly she stood herself up, wondering when exactly she ended up facing away from the freak friends.

"Luffy! Look at what you just did! She's bleeding!" The woman behind her shouted.

"What? But She didn't hit anything sharp!"

"That's not the point!" Marcy turned around and faced the group in time for the woman to address her. "Please forgive him! He's an idiot!" Murmurs were rapidly growing louder as more people gathered around the restaurant.

"How dare you cause such harm to a delicate beauty! What were you thinking! Apologize! Now!" The blonde man slammed his foot into Luffy's face.

"Yeah, that really does look like a serious wound you gave her." Long nose said as he watched the woman's thin cotton top slowly soaking with what looked like blood. Though the blood was more of pink color then a red and it seemed thicker than normal blood. Not to mention, this woman was hardly reacting to what appeared to be a very serious wound.

"We'd better do something quick. Looks like the town's people aren't taking that girls wound very lightly." The green haired man said as he gazed at all the people. Most of which now had some form of weapon clasped in their hands.

The people were outraged. Next to none of them knew the doll personally, but they all knew who she was. They all adored her. She was their treasure. The greatest achievement of the man they all idolized. She was more than that though. She was the poor tortured girl left in a lonely endless loop with a dream that could never be fulfilled. Most of the people didn't even know this living doll could bleed. That fact made the sight of her thick pinkish blood even more rage inducing. How dare a bunch shitty pirates come into their town and make their precious doll bleed? These pirates are all the same! All they do is ruin things. Kill without remorse and steal valuables. The older towns people had the same thought flash through their heads. Pirates stole treasure. The thing that gave Marcy life was worth hundreds of billions of berris. That could only mean one thing.

The pirates were here to steal Marcy's heart.

The people prepared to defend their precious doll.

"I'm sorry." Luffy said to Marcy who had remained still for the past few moments. "I didn't mean to hurt you." His face was serious, hat shadowing his eyes just slightly. The rest of the crew was tensed, ready for fight or flight. "We'll leave if that's what you want." Marcy gazed at him in wonder, her split oozing skin forgotten. For a single moment, barely a split second, the world around her came into full focus. She understood something she had long since forgotten, but the moment shattered and she returned to the place she was now and had been for nearly the last seventy years.

A gun shot rang out.

A single small stream of blood ran down from the graze wound now on Luffy's cheek. He didn't move, only looked deep into empty pastel green eyes. Marcy didn't break the gaze either.

"Get away from her you filthy pirate!" The frail old Gama stood in the split of the crowd. His gun drawn and smoking. It was already reloaded and waiting to fire. "I don't care who you are! Anyone who dares to lay a hand on our precious doll will suffer at our hands!"

"Look, Mister, it was an accident! Really! We didn't mean any harm." Log nose said with hands raised in a surrender motion, he was half hidden and trembling.

"Quiet!" Another bullet was fired off. This one just barely missing the long nosed man. He turned pale and sank down in his seat. "We don't wanna hear your pathetic excuses!"

"All you pirates are here for is to steal the relic of life! Admit it!"

"L-look! We have no idea what you're talking about! All we came here for was supplies!" The orange haired woman shouted as she rose from her seat. "We have no clue what a relic of life is!" She took a step forward. Marcy's eyes left Luffy and gazed at the girl. "We're really sorry for hur-" the woman let out a yelp as the sound of a gun firing again echoed through the building. The entire crew jumped up and moved forward as the sound of a bullet impacting echoed. Drops of blood spattered onto the ground as the people all froze and took a step back. They hadn't meant to shoot the girl. They weren't killers.

Rage boiled over in all of the pirates as they looked from the fallen woman to the crowd of people. The green haired man drew two of his swords while Luffy's hands clenched into fists. The blonde haired man tapped the toe of his foot against the ground. Long nose kneeled next to the woman checking her.

"I-I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shoot. I really didn't mean too." The man who fired stuttered looking pale as a ghost. He dropped his gun. Luffy took a step forward only to have a cream satin skinned hand with nails made of white marble grasp his arm. The hand was cold and smooth. Instead of a pulse echoing out from her hand like a normal person's would, a low hum trickled from the appendage and into Luffy's arm. The same lonely tune he felt earlier. He gazed at her. Marcy's mouth was in a tight line. Her pastel green eyes flashed with a warning followed by a plea. Luffy noticed that curled around her wrist was a circle of thick black stitches. Out of all the things he noticed in that moment, it was still her eyes that bothered him.

"Please, they're just trying to protect me." She released his arm. "The girl's fine."

"Of course she's not fine!" Long nose shouted. "You guys just shot her!"

"N-no. She's right. I'm okay." The woman shifted herself into a sitting position. "I was just startled is all. I'm okay."

"B-but that bullet should have hit you! How can you possible be okay!?" Long nose demanded.

"It's because she did something right?" The green haired man stated more than asked as he locked eyes with Marcy, who simply nodded.

"She did something?" Long nose gazed intently at her.

"Yeah. See." The orange haired woman shifted so that everyone could see. One her stomach there was a single bullet engulfed in medium sized glob of pinkish red goo. "Marcy flicked it onto the bullet before it hit me. I'll probably have a bruise but nothing more serious than that."

"Uuuh. Okay. How exactly does a glob of slime keep you from getting shot?" Long nose probed the goo with a single finger.

"It absorbs impact. It made the bullet loose it's speed and force keeping it from actually hurting her." Marcy said in a dull voice. "My body is full of the stuff and is

constantly making more. It's what's coming from the torn seam on my back."

"Oh right of course." Long nose nodded. "Wait! Seam!? What do you mean by seam!?"

"I'm a doll. Of course I'm going to have a few seams." Marcy pointed the ribbon that was laced through her skin and tied into a bow. "What do you think this was here for, fashion?" Long nose fainted.

"That's so cool!" Marcy backed away from the overly happy eyes of Luffy.

"A doll of such beauty before my very eyes! How wonderful!' The blonde surged forward clasping Marcy's hands in his own. "Such a marvelous creation. Crafted so perfectly as to steal my heart with just a single gaze of those flawless eyes. You, my precious doll, are a toy I would never tire of playing with!"

"I really want to shoot that boy." Gama grumbled while everyone else felt drops of sweat run down their faces.

"Please do so quickly." Marcy mumbled as she attempted to inch away from the swooning father had warned her about perverts, could this be one of them? The green haired man snorted in laughter at her comment.


	3. Chapter 3

**And here's chapter 3! Anyway. On with the world. So, I guess I will be leaving ****A Doll's LIfe**** up, mostly because of the all the reviews which I love very much and would greatly miss. Anywho, ask me questions and give me suggestions, I'll respond and love every bit of them.**

Chapter Three

_The world must enjoy my suffering. Whatever god exists must hate me. All I wanted was my child back. To look into bright happy eyes and hear her joyful laughter. Instead, I look into eyes of glass that are empty and listen to a laugh that seems recorded. It seems I need all three stones to bring those eyes to life. But Raux has the last stone. Raux has it and there is no chance he'll willingly give it to me._ **~ Page 195 of Ryuuden the doll maker's journal.**

The Straw hat pirates watched in morbid fascination as the shriveled old man named Gama skillfully mended the seam on Marcy's back. Each perfectly and evenly placed stitch slowly pulling mock skin closed over a white marble spine. The blood like goo no longer oozed from the torn seam. Instead the goo, which they had been informed is commonly known as defense gel, had formed a thin slightly solidified film over the exposed spine. Like blood forming a scab.

After everyone had calmed down, it had been decided that it would be best for Luffy and his friends to leave the town for the time being. And so the pirates had followed Marcy to the little workshop on the cliff, Marcy's home, with Gama following very slowly behind them. At first Usopp had made claims that the place was haunted which earned him a rather nasty look from a certain living doll. This only proved to further frighten the long nosed sniper. Zoro was only slightly bothered by the sight of all the blank staring faces of the dolls with dull hollow eyes that watched him. He found it just moderately creepy and a little bit hard to ignore. Sanji almost instantly found a doll with orange hair and swooned over it's likeness to Nami. Nami ignored Sanji in favor of examining the quality of the shelved dolls, all of whom appeared to have been recently and thoroughly cleaned. Luffy was far more interested in Marcy herself than the dolls.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Usopp questioned as he watched the sturdy twine being pulled through her flesh. He felt bad for the doll. It couldn't be fun to have to get seams sewn shut every so often. There had to have been better ways for her skin to be mended or even replaced. Usopp went pale at the thought of replacing her skin.

"Nope."

"It looks painful. . . . Very painful." He cringed after Gama gave the twine a particularly hard tug.

"It isn't." Marcy sat with her front pressed against the back of a wooden chair. Her legs on either side of it, feet swinging slowly and bare back facing Gama. "I can choose to feel pain or not to feel it. I'm a doll after all, I don't need to feel anything just like I don't need to eat, sleep or breathe. I simply do because I want to or enjoy to."

"Who in their right mind would want to feel pain?" Nami asked, tearing her gaze away from the dolls.

"Yeah. If you don't have to then why would you?" Usopp furrowed his brows.

"It's not only pain. To cease feeling pain, I have to cease all physical sensations. You can't have one without the other."

"So then would you just turn it off when you got into a fight or something?"

"No, Usopp. Think about it." Marcy tugged on another thin deep v-neck tank top once Gama finished closing her seam. "If I do that, how will I know when I've been wounded? Well. . . I guess honestly, it wouldn't matter with this body since I can't die, but still. Pain is helpful in battles. I wouldn't really know. I've never been in a battle just some training. And I'm not really alive so well, just never mind."

"Hmmm." Usopp crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. "I think I get it. If you can't feel the wound you don't know how bad it is. So if it's a lethal wound you run the risk of suddenly being disabled or even dieing because you didn't do anything to take care of it." Marcy nodded at Usopp.

"I guess I understand." Nami shrugged.

"It'd be suicide for someone to fight when they can't feel pain." Zoro grumbled from his leaning position in the furthest corner. The single place where the dolls weren't covering the walls. "You'd just keep getting wounds until your body gave out. Besides pain's a good tool for learning."

"I don't know about that last part, but I want to be human." Marcy was staring at an old picture on the wall. In the picture was a man, a woman, and their child. The little child looked like a younger version of Marcy, except the eyes held a life and vitality that showed no traces of ever being in Marcy's pastel green eyes. "To do that, I need to feel everything a human does. So I need to feel pain. Everything that is used to define someone as being alive, I have to feel or experience."

A silence feel over everyone as they gazed at Marcy. It was a peculiar thing to be staring at someone who wanted the one thing they all had without even asking for it.

"Well, since you all got shot at, the very least I can do is make you all dinner." With that Marcy stood and headed for the kitchen, her long denim skirt swishing as she walked. "I cook for Father all the time, so don't worry. I'm actually pretty good at it." Marcy vanished around the corner. Sanji leapt from his seat and followed her into the kitchen, hearts fluttering off of him as he cooed about helping his beautiful doll.

"You did an amazing job with her. I didn't even realize she wasn't human until she said so." Nami said looking at Gama. He blinked at her.

"I'm only a family friend." He carefully took a seat. "I had no had hand in making poor Marcy, only learned how to mend her."

"Really? Then who's her father?"

"Some guy named Ryuuden, right?" Luffy asked scratching the side of his head.

"You're only saying that because of what I said back on the ship." Nami grumbled shooting him an annoyed look.

"No, the boy's right."

"Seriously?" Nami asked a look of disbelief on her face.

"How did he know that?" Usopp asked staring at Luffy like he was a stranger.

"Probably just a lucky guess." Zoro said shrugging his shoulders.

"No." Luffy frowned. "She told me when I met her this morning."

"And you remembered it?" Usopp was more than a little amazed.

"Yeah." Luffy scratched at the side of his head again. "Was I not supposed to?"

"No. That's not the point." Usopp sighed.

"Then what is? I'm confused."

"Never mind that." Nami turned fully to Gama. "So Ryuuden made Marcy, but he hasn't been seen or heard from in decades. Has he just been hiding out and taking care of her for all this time?"

"He left yesterday on a ship the same color as Marcy's eyes." Luffy said while playing with a puppet that looked like a perfect little wolf.

"And how the hell would you know that one?" Usopp grumbled.

"Huh? Oh! Marcy asked me if we saw his ship when we came here."

"Why does he remember everything she says, when he forgets what we tell him two seconds later?" Nami growled.

"I remember everything you say, my beautiful Nami." Sanji cried with hearts for eyes, poking his head out of the kitchen for a moment. The other pirates could hear a low grumbling from inside the kitchen, before Sanji was shoved fully out and a door slammed shut behind him.

"That's because you're a love sick fool."

"You're just saying that because you're too thick headed to see the beauty and majesty in everything Nami does and says, you stupid Marimo!" Sanji had an internal debate about reentering the kitchen to be with his gorgeous doll or to stay out here with his beautiful Nami-swan.

"There's nothing majestic about that she-demon, curly brow!"

"How dare you deny Nami's majesty!" Two violent lump inducing hits later and the two men sat with large bumps on their heads while Nami growled.

"May I finish what I was going to say or should I just continue to sit here quietly?" Gama asked as a sweat drop ran down the side of his wrinkled face.

"Just ignore them." Usopp sighed. "I'll listen to you. I'm usually the only one that listens to these stories anyway." He thought back to all the other times it had happened already.

"Alright then." Gama said slowly, still not sure what to make of these people. . . These pirates. "Well, what the boy said, again, is true. But Ryuuden didn't leave yesterday."

"If he didn't, then how come Marcy asked if we saw his ship?" Usopp questioned with his head tilted.

"Ryuuden left over fifty years ago and died shortly after that." Gama looked towards the kitchen door. Faint humming could be heard accompanied by the smell of cooking food. "Because Marcy isn't human she doesn't exactly age. And because she isn't human, she can't properly handle the stress of tragedy. She couldn't handle knowing she'd lost her father and lost the opportunity to become human. She lost everything that day."

"What happened?" Nami wondered. Luffy watched Gama as the old man lowered his head slightly.

"Ryuuden left to hunt down the last life stone for Marcy's heart. With that final stone, Marcy will be as close to human as possible for her to be. That was the dream of her father Ryuuden, to make her human. It was also Marcy's dream, to be the best _human_ daughter she could be for Ryuuden." Luffy looked hard at the old man, before his intense gaze turned to the kitchen door. The wolf puppet lay forgotten, while all his crew felt a tingling sense of deja vu, they had each received a similar look. "The story is that Ryuuden had found the last stone, but someone else wanted the stones and relic of life as well. Ryuuden and all his crew vanished, no bodies, nothing, but a mangled ship. They don't know what happened to the third stone. The assumption is that it's still on Ryuuden's ship since no one ever found the stone and the ship was left alone to be a mass grave marker."

"They were so close." Nami whispered gazing down at the ground.

"That doesn't explain why she thinks Ryuuden left yesterday, though?" Usopp asked.

"It does though. You see, Marcy may be very close to being human, but she isn't. She was never meant to feel tragedy. Her mind didn't know how to cope with it, so it refused to accept it. Resulting in her remaining in a time when she was happy and their dreams were possible."

"So she's stuck in the day after her father left. Waiting for him to return to make her human and to be a family. How tragic." Sanji took a drag from his cigarette.

"But she has to have noticed that time's moved on from then. That people have gotten older." Nami felt her heart ache for the doll. No matter what anyone said about her, Nami wasn't heartless and she knew the pain of losing a parent.

"She has. Deep down, she knows that everything has crumbled around her. She knows that the world she's living in isn't right, but she's stuck there. The stress of remaining in that world of hers is causing her heart to burn through gems faster than she should even in the most strenuous conditions. I have to replace them every week at the least." After Gama finished talking a silence fell over them.

"Is there anything you can do to help her?" Nami whispered.

"Nothing that I haven't already tried. After I die, there'll be no one to maintain her and she'll turn back into a doll for good. The people decided that she'll be sealed away in an underground tomb so that nothing can damage her or take her heart."

"Have you tried telling her again? Maybe it'd sink in if you told her repeatedly. I mean something has to work." Usopp suggested, thinking hard.

"I did that for the first five years. It just caused her heart to burn through the gems almost instantly. Though she did seem to understand before her heart shut down."

"Then we'll just keep telling her until she understands!" Luffy shouted leaping from his place on the floor and rushing into the kitchen.

"Wait! That won't-" Gama never got to finish his sentence.

"MARCY! YOUR FATHER'S DEAD! HE'S BEEN DEAD FOR A LONG TIME! HE'S NOT COMING BACK SO SNAP OUT OF YOUR WEIRD TRANCE THING AND COME BACK TO REALITY!"

"W-what?" Everyone rushed into the kitchen. Their jaws dropped at what Luffy shouted at the poor doll.

"What the hell are you thinking, you dumb ass!" Nami slammed her fist into the back of his head.

"Why would you scream that at the poor girl!" Sanji shrieked, looking ready to beat down his captain. "You have to tell women things in a more compassionate manner!"

"Gama just said that telling her didn't work!" Ussop couldn't believe Luffy's stupidity at the moment. He was doing so well earlier.

"I'm not sure screaming at her like that is really going to do anything to help her." Zoro said as he took in the wide eyed appearance of the doll standing before them.

"SHUT UP!" Everyone blinked at Luffy's outburst. "MARCY! STOP BEING STUPID! YOUR FATHER'S DEAD. HE'S NOT COMING BACK SO JUST MOVE ON! YOU CAN STILL BE A HUMAN THAT HE'D BE PROUD OF, BUT YOU HAVE TO MOVE ON! UNDERSTAND! WE'LL EVEN HELP YOU! YOU DON'T NEED TO KEEP DOING THIS! WE'LL BE YOUR NEW FAMILY, OKAY!?"

The world around Marcy swirled and danced. Hundreds of images and thoughts flashed before her eyes in rapid succession all the while Luffy's words played through her mind, booming over the hundreds of times Gama had said those words as well. A throbbing pain erupted in her skull. SHe let out a shriek, startling everyone. Then everything stopped. The world snapped into focus and her eyes locked onto the serious expression of Luffy. Her gaze moved to Gama and a stream of images flooded her eyes. It was almost a movie of sorts, images playing in reverse. Hundreds of images of Gama, all going from the way he is now back to the way he was the day he first told her that Father was dead and she had no chance of becoming a human daughter he could be proud of. Gama had gotten older. Everyone had gotten older, but she had stayed the same and remained stuck in some stupid fantasy world. Suddenly the pain and agony of losing her father and their dream burned through entire body. A sharp twitch wracked her body and then she froze. The hum of her heart faded away. She knew no more.

They had watched the realization burn in her eyes. They saw the sudden pain fill her and they watched as her heart burned out in front of them. She was a perfect doll made of satin and silk standing before them. Not a single trace of life in her entire being, but her pastel eyes looked so very sad and alone.

"I told you. This happens every time someone tells her." Gama sighed. "Help me get her to the bed, please."

"I'd be more than happy to carry th-"

"Which way is the bed?" Zoro cut Sanji off with his question. He had Marcy thrown over his shoulder.

"I was going to do that you bastard!" Sanji shouted and stomped his foot. "And don't carry her like that! She's a delicate doll that should be handled with the utmost care and delicacy!"

"She's a doll." Zoro deadpanned. "She can't feel anything right now anyway."

"How can you be so cruel!" Sanji followed Zoro and Gama out of the room shouting.

"Luffy, Why'd you do that, anyway? Gama said it wouldn't work." Ussop gazed at their captain in curiosity as they followed after Gama into the bedroom.

"Cause she's being stupid and someone needs to tell her that."

"What do you mean she's being stupid!?" Gama rounded on Luffy anger making his aged body shudder. "She lost her father and her dreams! What do you expect her to do!?"

"That's why she's stupid." Luffy looked Gama in the eyes. "Her dad might have died, but she can still become human and be a daughter that he would be proud of."

"She can?" Gama looked from Marcy to Luffy and back. "How? She'd need the last stone, but no one knows where it is."

"You said it was probably on her dad's ship right?" Gama nodded. "Then tell me where his ship was when he was killed." Gama held Luffy's gaze. He debated for a moment before coming to a decision.

"It was on the Grand Line." Almost in unison every one of Luffy's crew knew what the next words from their captain's mouth were going to be.

"Then she'll join my crew and come with us to the Grand Line!" Luffy announced.

"Not a chance." Gama said immediately without blinking. Luffy let out a whining sound.

"Why not?"

"Why do you want her to join your crew anyway?" Gama demanded.

"She's cool!"

"You don't even know if she can fight."

"Can she?"

"Well, yes, of course. Ryuuden built a multitude of retractable blades into her body and a few other things for battle and WHY THE HELL AM I TELLING YOU THIS!?"

"Retractable blades?" Luffy blinked a few times before a grin split his face. "That's soooo cool! What else can she do?"

"Well, since she doesn't need organs or anything, she has several different organs that hold a multitude of things. For example there's one that holds a highly flammable oil that she can turn into a gas and exhale while igniting it with a spark she can make by gnashing her teeth together. It's about the same effect as a flamethrower and GOD DAMN IT! STOP MAKING ME DO THAT!"

"He's not making you do anything, Mister." Ussop whispered as a sweat drop ran down his face.

"Oh wow. She's definitely joining now!"

"I SAID NO!"

"Whyyyyyyyyyy?"

"BECAUSE I SAID SO DAMN IT!"

"When can she join then?"

"Never."

"What? That's not fair! Tell me when!"

"I said NEVER!"

"I refuse to accept that!" Luffy crossed his arms and frowned. "Tell me when she can join!"

"Fine! You wanna know when she can join your crew?" Luffy nodded with a massive grin. "If you get her out of her endless cycle for good then she can join your crew!"

"Alright! That'll be easy!"

"Exactly what part of that will be easy!?" Nami shrieked at Luffy before turning to Gama. "And aren't you supposed to be restarting her heart or something?"

"DAMN IT I FORGOT!"

"HOW'D YOU FORGET THAT!?"


	4. Chapter 4

Helllllllooooooo~! And welcome back, lovies!

Chapter 4

_I feel as though I may have become a monster. I abandoned my precious child to search for something very few have ever heard of. I have a good lead, but will this all be worth it in the end? This last stone won't make her human, I understand that. Maybe I'm just being selfish? No. I am the most selfish man alive, creating a child because I lost mine, how many parents have suffered the same fate, yet I act as though it was the universes personal attack on me._

**~ Page 239 of Ryuuden the doll maker's journal.**

Was this a dream? She wouldn't know, she'd never had a dream before. Doll's don't dream because they don't sleep. Marcy didn't sleep. Well, she did in a way, but it wasn't anything she would willingly do. While humans relaxed in sleep and enjoyed odd dreams of fantasy worlds, Marcy was simply thrown into a black abyss. For her sleeping was lonely and frightening. She was aware, but unable to do anything. It was like she was sealed inside her own body and her eyes had been sewn shut. Sleep terrified her.

So here she stood. Watching yet another sea of flickering images that playing through like a soundless movie. The images flew through her life from the day she first opened her eyes to the moment she bid farewell to her father. After that, the flow of the images became jerky. It replayed that scene several times before moving through the rest of the day. The next day froze and sputtered at a time late in the morning. The moment she met Luffy and his crew came to the front and paused. Her mind then shifted the images, reordering them so that Luffy was at her house as she returned from bidding her father goodbye and scene then flowed through the events of that day, but stopped abruptly while she was cooking dinner for her new friends. There were no images just a bright light that burned her eyes. Muffled shouting tore through the abyss behind the wall of flickering scenes, but Marcy couldn't understand a word of it.

Pastel green eyes of glass snapped open violently. They stared dully at the ceiling, while images shifted through her head until they fell into place to form a play that was compatible with her world. Once that process finished, a small flicker of life returned to the glass eyes and she sat up with a gentle smile. Her father had left to fulfill their dreams and she had made amazing, although very weird and confusing, new friends. All in one day! How wonderful. She couldn't wait till her father got back home to tell him about her new friends. She'd have to ask him if it was normal for people's arms to stretch or for someone's nose to be that long. Her father would probably want to meet them too. Maybe they would come visit her again in the future. Or maybe she could get Father to take her out to sail the seas! That would be the most amazing thing, to meet more bizarre people like the pirates she just met. Are all pirates like them, she wondered. Marcy knew some where terrible people, but maybe there were a lot more pirates like Luffy and his crew out there.

As fast as she could, Marcy changed her clothes. Tossing off the one's she was wearing before pulling on fresh clean ones. As she rushed out of the door she pulled her deep black silk hair up into a high ponytail. A few strands framed her face while a few more shorter strands decided to stick up at a bizarre angle.

Marcy ran for Gama's house, a smile stretching her mouth a bit more then usual. People turned and stared at her. Their eyes wide and jaws dropped. She usually wore the same thing. Actually she always wore the same thing and she never pulled her hair up. That wasn't what startled them the most. No, what amazed them and confused them was the smile on her face. It didn't entirely reach her eyes, but it came closer than anyone had ever seen. Marcy sprinted past them, her hair whipping around behind her like black smoke. Each of her steps making a thundering echo as they met the cobble stone road. Her astounding two hundred fifty pounds of body weight not slowing her fast run though it caused the vendor stalls that she passed by too closely to shudder. After she rounded a corner far too sharply, nearly colliding with a tree, the people turned to each other and began whispering. They weren't positive on what to make of the doll. A woman who looked to be well in her eighties grinned wide enough to stretch her sagging skin tightly across her face before she let out a witch like cackle.

"Grandma, why are you laughing?" The tiny girl holding the older woman's wrinkled and spotted hand asked with wide curious eyes.

"Pirates! Who would've thought _pirates _would get her to smile like that!" The child looked even more confused. The people who heard the woman looked at her with a small smile of their own. "Didn't quite reach her eyes, but it's more than I've since I was your age, Mina."

"I don't understand, Grandma?" The little girl, Mina, looked in the direction Marcy had ran. "Wasn't that the doll lady that lives in the old workshop?"

"Indeed it was." The woman nodded. "I feel like dancing." The woman grinned while the people near her sweat dropped. "Come, Mina, let's go home and blare some good dancing music."

"But, Grandma, the doctor said you need to be careful cause of your hip, remember?"

"Screw the doctor!"

A loud crash that consisted of the sound of snapping wood and cracking stone filled the air. A tremble shook the building with the intensity of a small earthquake. Sanji paused in his breakfast making to look around. Nami lowered the paper she was reading and blinked. Ussop lowered his slingshot and raised his goggles from his eyes. Old man Gama came flying past them. The three blinked in surprise. How could he move that fast if he was that old? Almost reluctantly they followed after Gama outside. Sanji placed the finished breakfast on the table before following, he was going to assume that whatever caused that tremor was Luffy's fault. It usually was anyway.

"What exactly am I looking at?" Nami questioned as she looked at. . . A bare foot sticking out of a pile of shattered wood and crushed stone. The foot twitched twice before the rubble shifted slightly. The foot wiggled a few times more before suddenly being pulled entirely into the pile of rubble. Sweat ran down the side of everyone's face.

"You think that's Luffy in there?" Ussop asked carefully watching the shifting pile of rubble.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was." Sanji exhaled a cloud of rippling smoke. Gama came rushing over with a shovel and began to dig away at the pile. He didn't move more than a few tiny pieces of stone and wood each time. Gama began wheezing with the effort after a few moments.

"Should we help him?" Nami tilted her head staring at Gama.

"Yeah, he looks like he might die with the effort." Ussop watched as Gama tugged feebly on a portion of wood. Almost in no time Sanji and Ussop had the pile of rubble cleared. Nami sat with Gama since Sanji said he would do the work for her. From the tiny bit of remaining rubble, Marcy shot into a sitting position. She was smudged with dirt and littered with splinters of wood. Her eyes were wide, well one of her eyes were wide. The other one was sitting on the ground near Ussop's feet. He froze staring at the eye and he could swear it was staring back at him. Which it kind of was seeing as it was just an eye. He shivered. This was just plain creepy.

"Nobody move!" Marcy shouted quickly standing up and looking around. "I need to find it so don't move!"

"Uhh. H-here." With a shiver of disgust Ussop picked up her eye and held it out to her. The eye was cold and had a thin layer of that gel stuff around it.

"Hmm?" Marcy stared at his hand blankly. "What's that?"

"It's your eye!"

"My eye? But I'm not looking for my eye!"

"Then what are you looking for?"

"My shoe." Marcy held up her bare foot and gave it a wiggle. "But am I really missing my eye?"

"How did you not know you're missing an eye?" Nami shouted looking amazed and disturbed all at once.

"They're not really attached or anything so I'm kind of used to one popping out. I don't really notice it anymore. Besides I've got a whole box of them back home."

"That's just weird."

"No. What's weird is when a limb comes off!"

"Can you please just take your eye already!" Ussop shouted. He was tired of holding it and it was really starting to freak him out. Marcy snatched it from him. There was a slick popping sound and Marcy's eye was back in it's socket. The eye rolled a few times before settling into the proper place. Ussop shuddered. He wasn't sure he could get used to seeing something like that.

"Marcy~! I found your shoe." Sanji danced over to her with her small shoe in his hands. She shifted back a step. "Please, allow me to slip this on your dainty foot." He kneeled in front of her and she twitched a little disturbed.

"Sure?" Marcy lifted her foot for him. He grasped her ankle and slide her shoe onto her foot, but paused. Coursing from her ankle and into his hand was a soothing hum. He frowned. The hum held a tragic note. It trickled through his veins and buzzed through his fingers. Sanji released her ankle and stood. He stared down into her pastel green eyes for a moment. He could almost see that tragic hum shimmering in their depths. There was an innocence, a childish dependence and vulnerability that spoke volumes to him. Sanji sighed and turned back towards the door of the house.

"C'mon. I made breakfast." He glanced back at Marcy and held his hand out to her.

"Okay." Marcy blinked before clasping onto his hand in a way that a young child would grab their siblings. "I don't actually need to eat so the only things I do eat are usually sweets or fruits. I like those." Sanji smiled.

"Then I'll make something sweet for you instead."

"Really?" He nodded. "Thank you!" Sanji opened the door for her with a flourish and smile. Marcy giggled before bowing at him and hopping through the doorway.

"Did you see that?" Ussop and Nami looked at each other blinking.

"Yeah. . . He didn't go all gaga. . . Instead he did that. What do you even call that?" Nami was a little more than startled. Sanji may have been the newest member of the crew, but she was certain that Sanji swooned and flirted with all women no matter what. The way he acted then, it was almost like he was treating her like a child. Why would he do that though? Only a split second before he had been his normal flirty self and then he touched her and that happened. Maybe something happened that they couldn't see when Sanji grabbed her ankle. That was the only explanation.

"It's like he changed when he touched her." Ussop pondered out loud. "Maybe she's cursed and she put a spell on him!" Nami's fist slammed into the back of Ussop's head.

"Think before you speak." She hissed. "No, it was like he realized something, but what?"

"He probably felt her heart beat." Gama said from behind the two. Both jumped and screamed. They had forgotten the old man was out there with them.

"Don't do that!" Ussop shouted at the old man who merely blinked confused.

"Do what? Speak?" Gama looked offended. "That's a terrible thing to say to your host."

"I meant sneak up on people!"

"I'm almost 90 years old! I walk with a cane and I wheeze like a half dead cow! My joints even creak! How the hell could I sneak up on someone!?" Gama shouted waving his cane in Ussop's face, just brushing the boy's long nose with the end of it.

"That old!"

"At least I was attractive in my youth! You and your nose there will never be anything more than weird!"

"How dare you say that to me! The great captain Ussop! Why this nose-"

"Shut up already!" Nami's fist met the back of Ussop's skull.

"Why didn't you hit him too!" Ussop shouted cradling his head while Gama grinned a nearly toothless smile and made a peace sign with his gnarled fingers.

"He's an old man and he's our host. Plus, he promised to show me the island's gem mines!"

"Greedy witch."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

"That's what I thought."

"Hrmph. So what were you saying, old man, something about her heart beat?" Gama looked up from the butterfly he'd bent over to examine.

"Huh? Oh yes. That. Marcy doesn't have one. It's more like a song being hummed. Though it can usually only be felt when you touch her skin. When her emotions are very strong then you can actually hear it, but that's very rare." Gama made his way into his house only to be greeted with the sight of Marcy snickering at Luffy who had several large lumps on his face. "What happened?"

"Hmm?" Marcy turned to look at Gama. His eyes widened at the shimmer of joy in her eyes. It had yet to overtake the emptiness in them but that joy was slowly growing. "Apparently, Luffy ate all the food Sanji had cooked for everyone for breakfast so Sanji kicked him a few times. It was pretty funny!" Gama moved to stand as close to Marcy's side as he could without touching her and listened. "What are you doing, Gama?"

"Nothing." Gama listened harder. "Marcy, tell me. What happened yesterday?" Sanji paused for a moment in his cooking. He had to make a second breakfast and a dessert since Luffy ate all of it. That bastard. Luffy looked up blinking a few times.

"Don't you remember? You were there for most of it."

"I know, but humor an old man will you?"

"Okay. Well, Father left early in the morning and then after saying goodbye I headed back home. Then I found Luffy standing in the door to my house. I took him to the restaurant where we met Sanji, Nami, Ussop, and Zoro. Luffy did his weird stretchy thing and hurt me accidentally so you shot at him and then it was all explained or whatever and I made them dinner. . . I think."

"Nu-uh!" Luffy shouted making Marcy blink confused. "That's not what happened! Your da-" Sanji's foot slammed into Luffy's face.

"Uh? What's going on?" Ussop sweat dropped before glancing at the giggling Marcy.

"Luffy ate all the food while we were outside, but don't worry my dearest Nami. I've already started preparing another meal for you."

"Thanks." Nami waved him off.

"What about me?" Ussop asked, his stomach growling.

"What about you?" Sanji dead panned. "Also, Marcy was telling Gama what happened yesterday. She said her father left and then she met us." Sanji lit up another cigarette before turning back to his cooking.

"She still thinks her father left yesterday, but we've been added to it. That's progress right?" Nami asked. Sanji simply shrugged his shoulders while Ussop nodded. A loud yawn sounded through the room.

"Was there an earthquake?" Zoro rubbed at his eyes before taking a seat at the table. Everyone felt sweat run down their faces while Marcy let out a loud bark of a laugh. It was far from the melodic sound she usually made. It was so different that it startled everyone. They blinked at her, before joining in. Faintly, Gama could hear the slightest sound of a humming tune.

A single cloaked figure sat on the edge of the cliff. Behind him was an old workshop that had seen better days. He was waiting. Waiting for the doll to return to it's home. It was laughable, that toy being treated like a human. It wasn't. It was pathetic. It could easily be torn and broken. The figure grinned in almost a deranged manner. He couldn't wait to break that doll. His captain wanted it's heart and he would return with it. He had to swallow down his laugh, didn't want anyone to hear him now did he.

From inside his cloak he pulled out an emerald green notebook that was battered and worn. On the front was scrawled the name _Ryuuden_ in faded gold letters. His captain had been so pleased when the figure found this book that he assigned the cloaked figure the duty of going after that man's pathetic attempt at creating a living doll and retrieve the relic with the other two stones so that they could be used for his captain's purposes. Why did some stupid doll need to be alive anyway? It had no purpose, no future. His captain did however have such a great plan for the future. There was no question on who deserved them more.

Slowly night fell. The figure waited calmly. And soon his waiting paid off. The doll in all it's useless glory wandered up the path to the workshop. A smile on it's pretty face. Well, that smile won't be there for long.

The cloaked figure vanished.

Marcy couldn't help but smile as she headed for her home. Today had been wonderful. She thought she would be lonely with her father gone, but she had had more fun today than she ever remembered having. Marcy hoped that tomorrow would be just as much fun. Suddenly, Marcy's smile vanished. She was now very much aware that someone was nearby and she was very much aware that they had drawn a weapon. She may be a doll, but her father had ensured she was trained to defend herself. He knew the evils of the world would at some point in her life attempt to harm her. He knew and so he prepared her. And then she felt it.

A horrible stinging pain blooming from her throat where a blade had just been slashed across it. Satin skin split open and reddish gel began to seep from the wound.

A laughter of pure ecstasy filled the air. The cloaked figure stood to her left with a wild grin on his face and his eyes flashing.

A tiny 'snik'ing type of sound was hidden by the laughter. Shortly after Marcy opened her mouth and a torrent of flames burst from her mouth, singeing the ground where the man had stood. The flames ended with a snap of Marcy's jaw and the man laughed once more.

She threw her body to the left just in time for her right arm to feel a grazing bite from a short blade. Marcy moved to strike at the man, but instead felt her marble skull crack slightly under the brutal force of a well aimed blow. Her body fell to the ground. She was in pain and her world was swimming. Her marble bones were beautiful, but far from useful in battle.

Another blow the same as before slammed into her head. The ground beneath her skull cracked along with her skull.

One more blow again to her skull. The marble gave way and a glass eye cracked. Several shards fell free to the ground.

Marcy disconnected her pain receptors and with a speed the man hadn't been expecting she landed a punch directly to his sternum. She felt it bend under her blow, but not break.

"Filthy piece of shit!" The man screamed before he grabbed hold of her right arm. "I'll teach you to hit me!" He brought his short blade down onto her arm at the place where her shoulder seams were. The seam split like tissue paper. The marble bone was only nicked by the blade. She swung her left hand at him only to receive a blow to the face with such intensity that she felt her marble teeth crack.

A blow was then delivered to her shoulder.

Her right arm came off and was tossed to the side. He laughed like this was the most fun thing he'd ever done. And it was. He was enjoying breaking this pathetic fool's _daughter!_

He wrapped his hand tightly around her throat and brought his grinning face frighteningly close to hers. His crazed eyes met a shattered glass eye and a frightened whole one. Slowly he brought his free hand up to her face and began to carve out Marcy's unbroken eye. She struggled the best she could, but one arm left her with few options.

Her eye came out and he threw his head back and laughed. With her left hand, her only hand now, she looped a finger through a seam on her left thigh. A hard tug on those stitches caused three spike like blades to split the seams on the bottom of her left foot puncturing cleanly through her shoe. The blades fell free, sticking out about a foot each. Marcy pulled her leg up and buried them deep into the man's gut. He roared in pain and anger.

Her left leg was then taken off at the knee.

"I'm going to rip that precious heart out of your pathetic chest and you know what I'm going to do after that?" He brought his face closer to hers again. "I'm going to hang your filthy body in the middle of that town down there for everyone to see!" He laughed again bringing his blade back and slamming it into her marble rib cage.

The loneliness and pain of the last fifty years suddenly flooded Marcy's body. Her father was dead and gone. Her world was shattered and now she was going to die. She was going to die before she had a chance to actually live and she was going to die alone. All alone. She didn't want to die. She really didn't. She wanted to live and have adventures. She wanted to make friends. She wanted to be happy and not so alone. Was anyone going to help her? Her world suddenly ended. She knew no more.

The man in his hand held a rusted old relic of metal. There were strands of thick twine hanging snapped from the relic.

A large hole was carved roughly in the now ruined doll's chest. The entire left side nearly gone. Massive rivets of reddish gel oozed to the ground. Her shattered eye had a single small drop of water caught in a crack just above her eye lid. That drop fell free and rolled down the doll's cheek.

The man gave the doll's body a light toss upwards. He allowed the body to thud to the ground before curling his fingers tightly into perfect deep black silk hair. He whistled a happy tune as he slowly made his way down the path to the village. Marcy's limp shattered body was dragged by it's hair after him.

As the sun began to relight the world, it gleamed off of the cloaked man's crazed grin.


	5. Chapter 5

So. Hello lovelies. I thought I should just tell you this, because I find it somewhat ironic. The Strawhats aren't actually my favorite crew, more like third to be honest. I much prefer Traflagar Law and the heart pirates. But alas. I can't write Law's character all that well, even though I have a story in mind for him and his crew. Maybe in the future. Probably not.

Chapter Five

_For the sake of my daughter, I've done terrible things. I'm among the worst, but can you blame me? It doesn't matter now. I know my end is near. All of my horrible deeds are catching up with me. I regret the life I have lived thus far and only hope my daughter will live a life without regrets._ **~ Final entry in Ryuuden the doll maker's journal.**

The people woke with the sun, all of the farmers at the very least. It was tradition, had been since the beginning of their small village. Though this morning was different. Something strange was in the air, something that caused a fluttering in their stomachs. A hum rippling through the air that spoke of a great change coming. Small smiles pulled at their faces, even the children were more energetic. No one could wait for the change to start. They all knew it would involve the villages precious doll, even the children spoke of playing with Marcy and her new pirate friends.

It was just too bad that they went outside.

Before the sight could be registered, children were scooped up by their mothers and hauled inside. The mother's cooed soothing words to their children as the young ones began to quake. Some men armed themselves while others could only stare.

Before them stood a man in a cloak. His hood was down now. Expanses of flesh were bolted and stretched to plates of metal. One eye was some sort of metal contraption while the other was human. The teeth in his wide crazy grin were large metal shark like teeth. On the expanses of metal were bizarre runes that perfectly resembled the ones carved into Marcy's heart, though no one noticed this important detail. Tattooed into the side of his face that remained as human flesh was "METAL". None of that was what the people truly noticed. What had their attention was Marcy's heart hanging from the man's belt like some sick trophy. More then that was the broken and tattered body of Marcy laying in a careless heap before the man. He rested his feet on top of her. He looked perfectly content.

The people had never been so angered before. Never in the history of their town had everyone been enraged and broken over the same thing. It was an instant and unanimous decision made without a single spoken word or a look. All the people that had gathered to stare at the horrific sight knew what they had to do. They couldn't let someone get away with hurting their villages treasure. No man, beast, or act of the gods had the right to cause that poor girl more torment.

And so, they attacked the man.

If Marcy was just a doll, then why was she still aware? If the only thing that gave her life had been ripped from her body, then why could she hear fighting? No, it wasn't fighting. She could hear a massacre. She should have been reduced to nothing more than a doll now, so why could she hear this horrible sound? Why was she left aware of what was happening and yet she could feel no body for her to move and use to protect her precious villagers? She wanted to cry. She tried to cry, but it was like she was caged inside her own useless and now maimed body. Vaguely, she remembered a short time in her very first few moments of existence, where this was all she had been, where this caged inability to act was all she knew. Marcy never wished to return to it.

A set of swords blocked the crazed man's thick short sword before it could pierce another villager. The man who had just been saved sat there wide eyed and sweating.

"Hurry up and get out of here." Zoro growled around the sword clenched in his teeth. He glanced at the man from the corner of his eye. The man swallowed thickly before getting up and rushing off.

"Marcy. . ." Old man Gama slowly made his way towards the broken doll. Tears rolled down his wrinkled face before dripping from his chin and to the ground. The people watched silently, they all knew how close Gama was with the doll. Gama had sacrificed his entire life to maintain that doll. Their hearts broke further as they witnessed the aged man fall to his knees next to her broken body. He never married, claiming that the right woman did not exist for him, but the villagers knew the truth. They knew that Gama from the moment he had first gazed at Marcy with his innocent child eyes, was irrevocably in love with her. As Gama remained kneeled by her body, his pants became cold and soaked through with slightly solidified gel that was gently slipping from the open cavern that was once her chest. He grasped her remaining hand with his age deformed hands as a sob choked it's way from his mouth. Her hand was just as cold and soft as the satin flesh had always been, but it didn't hold that gentle hum. It was just a perfectly crafted hand attached to the violently mutilated remains of a once beautiful doll. A portion of the villagers moved to try attacking the man again. They couldn't bare to see Gama's pain any longer. A hand was thrown out in front of them.

"Don't. You'll just get killed." Sanji blew a cloud of smoke from his mouth, not even turning to the people as he spoke. They growled in defiance.

"You want us just to let that bastard get away with what he's done?!"

"No. We'll handle this, You just stay alive." With that Sanji moved forward. He stood near Zoro in front of the man who had caused all of this. The man watched them with an excited grin. His eyes then flickered to Luffy. The boy's face was shadowed by his hat. He moved to stand just behind the sobbing Gama and broken Marcy. Luffy knew she could be fixed. She was a doll and doll's could be repaired, but she could feel pain. Luffy could only imagine what kind of pain she had felt when that guy ripped her to pieces like this. Had she remembered what was really going on in the world around her as heart was ripped from her chest? In the remains of her broken eye, Luffy could see that empty loneliness. The look of something lifeless. He decided that he hated that look.

"That bastard. Who do they think they are!?." A man growled angered. Why should they trust a group of pirates with avenging their precious Marcy.

"They might not look it, but those three are strong." The people turned to Ussop and Nami. "They defeated Arlong and his men so there's no way they'll lose to a freak like that guy." Nami stated calmly as she clutched her staff in her hands.

"They beat Arlong?"

"Yup. Those three are monsters!" Ussop laughed. "Of course they wouldn't have managed it without my help."

"You're kidding right?" A few villagers mumbled, looking at Ussop with disbelief.

"Of course I'm not!" Ussop shouted before calming down. "Anyway, if you really want to help, then get your wounded friends out of here." The people nodded and with the help of Ussop and Nami they began to pull their wounded friends out of the way.

"Why?" Gama's hoarse voice whispered. "Why this? Why now? My poor Marcy."

"What a stupid old man!" A cackle tore free from the man's throat. "Crying over a broken toy! You must be senile in your old age!"

"Shut up!" Gama rounded so that he was glaring as fiercely as a man his age could. "I may be old, but at least I know the value of a life! Unlike you, you deformed freak!" In half a second the man had Gama by the throat and raised in the air.

"I'm not deformed. I'm advanced!" He snarled at Gama, tightening his hold making the old man gasp and groan. "What's the point of being a fleshy human that ages and withers. Why be something that is easily broken but so hard to fix."

"Shut the hell up, you bastard!" Luffy threw his fist forward, but caught it and allowed it to snap back to him. The man had moved poor old Gama into the direct path of Luffy's blow.

"He's going to use that old man as a shield." Nami whispered horrified at the thought.

"That's just low." Ussop grumbled as he helped bandage a man's wound.

"I know the value of a life!" He gave Gama a hard shake. "I just don't care! Gah!" He released Gama out of shock. The old man hit the ground hard. When he recovered from the shock of pain, he could only stare.

A long spike like blade was pierced through the man's arm. Running from the end of the blade were threads of thick black twine leading back into an open stitch on Marcy's remaining wrist. That remaining arm was raised, shuttering and twitching like it was unstable. The doll had somehow managed to roll her broken body onto its stomach. More of the gel rippled from her body and dripped to the ground. A broken glass eye was trained onto the man, but it held no life. It was empty.

"What the hell?" The man snarled. He didn't understand. Without the heart, that thing should have been nothing more then scrape material. He slashed the twine before ripping the spike out of his arm. He leaned down curiously staring at the doll, it's broken eye shifted slightly to meet his gaze. Maybe it was a side effect of having the heart in her for so long. Residual power, possibly? A single thin blade dropped from the tip of each finger before the doll's only hand made a slashing motion at the man. He jerked backwards a few steps. Her motions were faster than he had thought they could be.

"She's still moving?" Nami whispered. "How can she still be alive?"

"She's not." Nami turned to look at Zoro, but he didn't continue. They watched as Marcy's broken body repeatedly tried to get up. A few splatters of pinkish red gel met the ground. Falling back down before pulling itself forward a few inches and trying again. A short trail of smeared gel had been formed from the large pool of it to the doll's jerking body. The man watched not positive on what to make of this scene. He understood what was happening immediately when his eyes caught a specific sight.

The old rusted metal heart was glowing brightly and vibrating with a hum. Her body was reacting to the call of the heart like it was used to.

The man began taking steps backwards from her broken body. The heart's glow began to fade the father he got from her and her body's motions ceased. She collapsed to the ground without so much as a warning and no further motions of any kind. The man grinned.

Luffy's fist shot forward and caught the man in face with it's full force. He was sent flying, crashing and tumbling across the ground like a rag doll.

"Hey, old man." Luffy's voice startled Gama. "If I get that thing back, you can fix Marcy, right?"

"Y-yes. I should be able too." Luffy nodded. The man stood from his crumpled position and threw his blade at Luffy. Luffy simply tilted his head, the blade flew past him.

"Why would you bother fixing something so weak and useless!" He roared before rushing at Luffy, a new blade drawn.

"Because she's part of my crew!" Luffy's fist slammed into the man's face again, but this time the man didn't move back a single inch. The man's blade bit into Luffy's shoulder. Luffy's leg then slammed into the man's stomach. That one sent him skidding to the side. Luffy noticed he'd felt the distinct give of hitting flesh that time, unlike before when he felt like he was punching a wall. His next attack was aimed for that same spot.

"Hey, Gama." Sanji now stood behind Gama. "You should start fixing her up soon. It won't take Luffy long to get that heart back." Gama blinked at him before looking at the others. Ussop and Nami were helping the wounded while Zoro was leaning casually against a wall, nearly asleep.

"B-but, what about your friend? Won't he need help?"

"Nah. Our idiot captain won't lose especially not when a friend's been hurt." Sanji lit a new cigarette.

"C'mon, I'll help you fix her, just tell me what you need." Sanji carefully lifted Marcy's body into his arms and followed Gama to the old workshop on the cliff.

Zoro cracked open an eye and looked around. Luffy was determined, that was plain to see. He had only a few more nicks since he gained that wound in his shoulder. Luffy was aiming powerful punches and kicks to a few specific places. Zoro guessed that Luffy had noticed that the man's body was still human in a few places. He wasn't worried, Luffy would win and get Marcy's heart back then he'd get her to join their crew, end of story. His gaze turned in the direct Sanji and Gama had walked. It hadn't taken Zoro long to understand why Sanji had suddenly stopped flirting with Marcy. Zoro himself could see the pained child that was hidden in her pastel green eyes. It seemed that that had struck a chord with Luffy and Sanji. Not like that was unexpected though. Luffy had the tendency for being attracted to odd balls, outcasts, and sufferers of tragedy. So Zoro wasn't really surprised to find out he wanted Marcy to join the crew. He also wasn't terribly surprised when Sanji took on more of a brotherly or kind of caretaker attitude toward the doll. Zoro twitched slightly remembering yesterday and an off handed comment he made to Marcy. It wasn't meant to be rude, but could be ever so slightly taken as such. Sanji without the slightest warning, had kicked Zoro in the face. He wasn't positive which would prove to be potentially more dangerous. Sanji doing his usual routine towards Marcy or this new self acclaimed father routine. With a sigh, Zoro closed his eyes and drifted to sleep. What had he done to deserve ending up on such a weird crew?

Gum Gum Gatling gun firing off and the rapid pounding of fists into flesh and occasionally metal, signaled the end of this fight. Luffy stood slightly winded and covered in small cuts, but looking none worse for wear. The man fell to the ground as blood sprayed from his mouth. The connective areas between his flesh and metal were tearing and bleeding.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Blood splattered from his mouth as he shouted. "A nobody like you has no right to get in the way of my captain's goals!"

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy and I'm going to be king of the pirates!" Luffy grinned at the fallen man. "And if your captain get's in my way, I'll kick his ass too!"

"You and you're stupid crew and that stupid doll are all going to die!"

"Nah." Luffy's hand grasped the heart and pulled it free from the man's belt. "I don't feel like dieing." Luffy stretched his leg back a few feet before slamming his foot into the man. The man vanished into the background.

Luffy gazed down at the cool metal heart in his hand. The markings on it glowed ever so slightly and it shivered with a faint tune. A large grin split his face. The tune pouring from it now decidedly happier. With a whistle, Luffy turned and began walking towards Marcy's house. He was going to have a new member on his crew and new friend.

"Hey, Luffy, don't you find that just a little bit gross?" Ussop questioned, looking at the slightly goo slicked heart that Luffy clutched in his hand.

"No?" Luffy blinked confused at him. "Why would I?"

"Cause you're holding Marcy's severed heart in your hand." Luffy blinked again.

"This is her heart?" Luffy stared at the metal heart in his hand with amazement.

"OF COURSE IT'S HER HEART! WHAT DID YOU THINK IT WAS!?" Ussop shouted.

"A music box."

"WHY THE HELL WOULD A MUSIC BOX BE KEEPING HER ALIVE!?"

"Cause it's magic."

"HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE!?"

"Just give up." Zoro sighed. "It's not like it really matters, anyway."

The walk to Marcy's house was quiet and short. Luffy's face was filled with it's usual grin. The others wondered if Marcy would remember any of this when she woke up.


End file.
